This was really when the whole Eastern media fixation with the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry being this legendary thunderous rivalry got its start.

Before 1978, the only two times in AL history when the Yankees and Red Sox had come down to the final day of the season had been 1949 -- and 1903. Other than those two years, either one team or the other had been out of contention in the final days of the season.

In the Sixties and Seventies when I was growing up and learning about baseball, the general national perception of the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry was that it was no big deal. The current obsession by FOX and ESPN that the whole nation is transfixed by it is preposterous. 85% of the nation either doesn't give a shit or, more likely, hates both teams (and fanbases).